On paper a Wavecrest should be the ideal cruising dinghy with a lid on: L.O.A. sixteen ft., beam six ft., draught plate up 11”, down four ft. The rig is Bermudian with 110 sq. ft. of terylene, the weight is given as 4 cwt. but it is probably nearer 5 cwt. with the full rig.

I bought one three years ago; two years and eleven months ago I capsized it on its moorings in a gale whilst coming aft after making fast. This started me thinking about her good points and bad points — that is, after I had thawed out. Let’s list the good ones first:-

(1) The built in buoyancy worked well and the boat was easily righted and recovered.

(2) The cabin is roomy for a dinghy and sleeping is very comfortable indeed. Bed boards convert the side bench level to a flat surface, covered with four inch foam cushions, approximately 5 ft. wide and 7 ft. long. There are two good lockers and plenty of stowage under the bulkhead. The bucket toilet compartment forward of the centre board case makes additional stowage as we find the best place for the bucket is hung under the stern deck.

(3) The boat has a reasonable turn of speed, P.Y.116.

(4) A Seagull stows well in the cabin and performance under power is satisfactory, a Century Plus giving six knots on half throttle.

There are probably other good points; certainly the boat has very spacious and comfortable accommodation for an all up weight of about 5 cwt. Let’s now have a look at the bad points:-

(1) The hull form is hard chine with a fairly narrow water line beam, approximately four foot six inches. It also has a well V-ed bottom forward with a flat run aft. This gives a hull with very little initial stability but with the 90 lb. plate down on the wind the stability is enough with the crew on the weather gunwale. There is no ballast except the plate; when this is up she is very tender for a cruising boat.

(2) The wooden spars are heavy for an unballasted boat and are certainly a major factor in adding to the tenderness.

(3) There is no kicking strap, the boom being too close to the cabin top.

(4) The mainsheet has no horse, being just shackled to a ring on the transom which is offset to port.

(5) The buoyancy tanks have no access ports for ventilation and leaked about three gallons of water in the capsize.

(6) The cockpit floor has reinforcing pieces glued on which “squelch” due to water getting underneath, also the floor feels too thin for a hefty crew to tramp around on.

(7) The halyard cleats are on the mast, cruiser style, this makes sail changing or reefing very awkward in such a boat.

(8) In the event of a knockdown there is nothing to stop the plate dropping back into the case.

(9) The jib sheet cleats are inaccessible from the weather side when sitting on the side deck.

(10) The mild steel plate was inadequately protected and began to corrode badly.

Having sized all this up, not in one session of wet towels of course, I have modified her to a degree where I consider she is almost the ideal cruising trail boat. She now has low weight for easy launching, bags of accommodation for two and enough for three for a week or two, a high degree of stability; no vices on the run and an ability to carry full sail up to force 5 on the wind with total crew weight of 18 stones just perched on the weather side deck. The cruising gear including outboard and water cans act as extra inside ballast under such conditions.

The modifications carried out were as follows:-

(1) Replace wooden rig with sparlight aluminium mast and boom. A large section mast (4”) was chosen with no spreaders nor diamond shrouds. The bottom of the mast is fitted with a wooden heel and the top, which the makers leave open, I sealed with a plug of rigid polyurethane foam formed in situ. The mast therefore has a positive buoyancy of about 55 lbs. allowing for a weight of about 17 lbs. which is only half the weight of the old one. A saving of this order up aloft is equal to at least the equivalent of a second plate below. The boom I obtained has a captive goose neck for easy reefing.

(2) Rig a horse over the cabin top with terylene rope. Fit a Holt-Allen claw ring to the round boom and put a short tackle which travels across the horse. This is effective in preventing the boom “skying” when off the wind in strong winds. The claw ring is held in position by a stainless steel rod which clamps to the mast track. This permits roller reefing without any attention to the kicking strap tackle.

(3) A mainsheet horse was rigged using terylene three strand rope running from gunwale to gunwale. The mainsheet travels on this and its position can be set wide or narrow provided the length of the horse is carefully adjusted.

(4) Inspection covers have been fitted to all six buoyancy tanks. I have used two Holt-Allen, two large rubber bungs as used on the Scorpion, and two wooden covers of my own design. The Holt-Allen are probably best although mine are the most comfortable to the sit upon.

(5) The buoyancy tanks have been caulked with Seelastik, Bostik, Polyester, Aerolite etc. To be sure of 600 lbs. minimum buoyancy out of the total 1000 I have stuffed the tanks with blocks of rigid polyurethane foam.

(6) Two blocks have been fitted to the cabin top at the foot of the mast, extra length halyards fitted and led aft to two cleats on the cabin top aft end which are readily accessible from the cockpit. A courlene down haul has been fitted to the jib and led aft through a fairlead in the cockpit coaming. The jib can therefore be hauled down without going forward. This is very necessary as she won’t lie head to wind for reefing with the jib set even if the sheets are flying.

(7) The cockpit floor has been “fibreglassed” which has ended the squelch after all simpler remedies had failed.

(8) Raised blocks have been screwed to the side decks and topped with combined Tufnol cam cleats and fairleads. The jib sheets therefore come over the cockpit coaming racing dinghy style.

(9) The plate has been galvanized and a retaining lanyard fitted. Last but not least two iron bars recently introduced by the designer have been fitted externally on the bottom of the centreboard case. These weigh 25 lbs. each but I think she would be faster with lead bars of 45 lbs. and some economy on inside gear, stores and junk. I shall try this during the coming summer.

To sum up: my Wavecrest normally is moored in the back garden. When I get time to sail, aided by my 14 year old son we trail and launch her with no more trouble than the Firefly we used to sail. She is seaworthy enough for us to feel confident on the rather rugged coasts of North Wales or for us to sail in any weather in the Lake District or similar sheltered waters. If anyone is thinking of such a combination with, shall I say, middle aged sleeping comfort these notes could save a lot of money which might be spent on standard gear which would certainly be discarded in due course. With these changes I think a Wavecrest is almost the ideal lidded cruising dinghy. Perhaps the only drawback is that it is made of wood, not fibreglass.